Pvn H,i I'UitlS

venus. 343
lunule lance-shaped, well defined, sculptured like the rest of
the surface, usually of a darker hue :
; lips prominent corselet
wanting : ligament narrow, horncolour, wholly exposed : hingeline
gently curved : hinge-plate broad and even : teeth, in the
right valve three divergent cardinals, the middle one being the
shortest and double, and the others triangular and laminar,
the anterior is the highest and longest, and the posterior nearly
parallel with the hinge-line ; in the left valve are also three
cardinals, the middle one triangular and slightly cloven, the
anterior the smallest, and the posterior cloven and irregular ;
laterals indistinct : inside dull chalkv-white, with often a lilac
stain on the umbonal part or posterior side ; margin finely
notched on all sides : pallial sear polished and iridescent, an-
gularly sinuous on the posterior side: muscular scars large,
roundish-oval. L. 0-55. B. 0*7.
Var. 1. lutea. Shell plain yellowish or white.
Var. 2. trigona. Shell triangular and having only about
twenty ribs.
Habitat :
Rather common on a sandy bottom and
among nnllipores, in the laminarian, coralline, and deepsea
zones. Dr. Leach says that he found it in Dingle
under the sand at the
Bay, Ireland, (i
very abundantly
lowest tide " and ; Capt. Beechey has dredged it off the
Mull of Galloway in 145 fathoms. The first variety is
from Guernsey, Exmouth, west coast of Scotland, and
Shetland, in 15-100 fathoms; and the second has been
taken by me at Guernsey. V. ovata occurs in all our
upper tertiaries, and the variety trigona in the Coralline
Crag. It has been observed on every coast between
Finmark and the Morea, at depths varying from 6 to 135
fathoms. Subapennine beds (Brocchi) ; South-Italian
tertiaries (Philippi) ; upper
miocene strata near Antibes
(J. G. J.).
M. Gay finds these shells in the stomachs of Trigla
gurnardus at Toulon. The colour of some specimens
from the deepest water within the line of soundings on
our northern coasts is quite as bright, but not so varie-